


Clues and Castles

by KaytiKazoo



Series: 2020 Prompts [31]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gen, Kid Leo Fitz, Leo Fitz is Holden Radcliffe's Son, Pillow & Blanket Forts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKazoo/pseuds/KaytiKazoo
Summary: Holden comes home, and follows some clues to a kid in a castle.
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Holden Radcliffe, Leo Fitz's Mother/Holden Radcliffe
Series: 2020 Prompts [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985246
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Clues and Castles

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 50 Day Fic Prompt, “You don't see me”, posted to [my tumblr.](http://kaytikazoo.tumblr.com)

Holden  left his briefcase on the chair by the door with his jacket, and kicked off his shoes. He could hear Abigail in the kitchen finishing up dinner, but he followed the sounds of little giggles into the living room.  There was a mess of pillows and blankets piled up haphazardly around the couch, and in the center, he could see a small, little boy-shaped shadow wiggling around, cast by a lantern inside. 

“ Wow, what an invention,” he said out loud. “What an incredible structure. Whoever made this must be a  _ genius _ .”

“Holden?” Abigail called, coming out from the kitchen , wiping her hands. She smiled, her curly hair pulled up away from her face. “Hello love. Good day at work? ”

He smiled at her before he peeked into the  fort , meeting Leo's eyes inside.

“ Shh . You don’t see me,” Leo whispered loudly.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He stood up and Abigail crossed over to him to kiss him on the cheek. 

“Welcome home. Leo  wanted to play as Da today.”

“ Oh, did he?”

“ He built  it  himself. Said he wanted  to show you what he made.”

“But where  _ is _ the  little engineering genius?” 

“You  gotta follow the clues,”  Leo’s little voice came from inside the fort again.

“Clues?” Holden asked. A little hand came out of the fort to point at  an envelope left on the TV stand across from the couch. “Oh, I see. How silly of me. Thank you, disembodied hand.”

“You’re welcome.”

Holden took the envelope, Leo’s child handwriting spelling out DA on the front, the D backwards, and took the note out of envelope. Leo was an exceptional child, and had been since he was a baby, but just like Holden himself, his handwriting was near impossible to read. Luckily, Abigail had put a translation in her neat, flowing script underneath. 

The first note said, “Look under your bed.”

Holden took off his tie as he headed upstairs to their bedroom, deciding to make a tiny detour in their closet to change out of his work clothes. He changed out of his slacks and button-down into more comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt that Abigail had chosen for him for Christmas the year before, and mindfully put his dirty clothes in the hamper like Abi was always reminding him. Then, he knelt down next to the bed and peered under. Leo had obviously placed this one himself, since it was halfway under the bedframe. He was the only one who could fit that far, crawling on his belly. Holden lay himself as flat as he could and stretched under the frame, and barely brushed the envelope. He let out a quiet chuckle, because this was exactly how Abigail had surprised him with Leo in the first place, so like mother, like son. 

Leo was absolutely his mother’s son, there was no denying that. 

Finally, after pressing his shoulder into the frame hard, he scooped the envelope up and shuffled back. The front had the same Da written on the front, the D on this one the right way. Inside, Leo had written his next instruction, and Abi had translated.

It read, “Now on top of the fridge.”

Holden headed downstairs with the envelope and found Abigail back in the kitchen while Leo played in the living room. 

“What is all this?” he asked. Abi smiled as she took out ingredients from the fridge for dinner. “It’s my turn to make dinner.”

“Play with your son, Holden. I’ll get dinner tonight,” she said, stepping to kiss him. He paused, taking a moment to enjoy this moment with her. He held her gently by the hips, and she leaned into him back. When she’d first left Alistair, a few months along with Leo, she couldn’t relax even when they were alone, always looking over her shoulder, always second-guessing his gifts. He could strangle Alistair Fitz for what he’d done, for the things he’d put Abigail through. Now, luckily, she relaxed when Holden came home, unafraid of what would happen when he stepped into the house, unafraid of him. She was lighter now, smiled bigger, laughed freer. It was incredible to see the difference. 

On top of the fridge, there was a third envelope, with Leo’s handwriting spelling out the Da in a different color marker. 

This one read, “Password: I love you! Come find me in my castle!”

Holden left one more kiss on Abi’s cheek before heading into the living room.

“What a fine castle,” Holden said, stepping back into the room. 

“What’s the password?” Leo asked, poking his face out of the  pillow fort . 

“I love you,” Holden replied, and Leo grinned.

“You may enter! I love you, too!”

Holden knelt down and awkwardly crawled into the space with Leo, then lifted Leo into his lap.

“How was your day, little lion boy?”

“Good! I learned about polarization today!”

Holden laughed, and shifted Leo in his lap to wrap himself up in his arms. His dirty blonde hair tickled Holden’s chin a little, and he’d need a haircut soon. 

“Da,” Leo giggled, pushing Holden’s face away a little as his beard tickled Leo’s cheek in return. 

“Polarization, then. Do you want to tell me about it?”

“Yeah!”

Holden could hear Abigail’s singing under her breath in the kitchen while Leo told him about polarization, fumbling over his words a little in his excitement. After a long day going over spreadsheets and quarterly reviews with his employees, it was good to come home to this. There was once a time when he’d stared at Abigail with hope, broken, abandoned hope, and somehow,  _ somehow,  _ he had their son in his arms, in their house, in their life that they were building together. 


End file.
